Ripken Extends Streak to 2,500

BALTIMORE — Cal Ripken extended his major league record of consecutive games played to 2,500 and marked the occasion by driving in three runs Saturday as the Baltimore Orioles ended a two-game losing streak by beating the Oakland Athletics, 8-2.

Ripken homered on the night he tied Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 successive games. He homered again when he broke the mark one night later on Sept. 6, 1995.

This time, he broke open a scoreless game with a two-run, opposite-field bloop single in the sixth inning. He also had an infield single with the bases loaded in a five-run seventh.

“I got lucky and jammed the ball in right field and the other ground ball had eyes and went to the right spot of the field,” Ripken said.

Ripken’s record-setting streak began May 30, 1982.

“I guess you can say that he’s in a league all by himself,” Oakland Manager Art Howe said. “I don’t see it happening again, not in any of our lifetimes.”

On the night Ripken became baseball’s all-time Iron Man, he capped a grand celebration that included an appearance by President Clinton with an impromptu victory lap.

On Saturday, the ceremony was decidedly subdued. The crowd of 46,026 gave Ripken a standing ovation for two minutes as the scoreboard flashed the numbers 2-5-0-0 one at a time before the sixth inning. Ripken doffed his cap several times while standing at third base.

“It was eerie in a way. It took me back to a few years ago,” he said. “One side of me is embarrassed, the other side happy because I could relive moments from ’95.”

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Next Series For Angels

Who: Baltimore Orioles

Where: at Baltimore

When: Monday, 4 p.m. and Tuesday, 4 p.m.